Saturdays at 9:00 p.m.
Hosted by Fritz Byers, Jazz Spectrum 91 is designed as an anthology, a loose and flowing tour through the history of the music, showcasing the wondrous diversity of jazz and the virtuosity of the musicians who play it. The notion of jazz history, in any formal sense, is problematic, since the best recordings are timeless, tied not so much to time and place as to personal and collective inspiration, which, like all thunderclaps of genius, defy tidy explanation. Jazz is marked, at once, both by limitless innovation and enormous discipline, and it is this tension -- between the individual and the group, between form and invention -- that makes jazz such a source of boundless fascination. And joy.
August 28, 2010 - The tenor saxophonist Hadley Caliman is in the midst of a late-career renaissance. He began in the 50s as an acolyte of Dexter Gordon, and he still reflects Gordon's roots in be-bop. But his recent releases are nearly majestic in their sweep and command. This week, the music of Hadley Caliman.
BEST OF 2009
Fritz Byers selects 50 new jazz recordings from 2009 that stood out for their innovation, virtuosity, and beauty.
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The bassist Scott Lafaro's voice -- fresh, vibrant, and melodic -- transformed the instrument and its role in jazz. Working with artists as diverse as Bill Evans and Ornette Coleman, created pure gold in a form of artistic alchemy. Kim Kleinman considers Lafaro's achievement.
The trumpeter Blue Mitchell created a substantial body of tasteful, expressive, and affecting music, including a series of recordings in the 50s and 60s for Riverside and Blue Note that document a sensibility of consistent excellence and appealing reserve. Fritz Byers honors Mitchell's memory.
For fifty years, Jim Hall has been making jazz. His accumulated body of work is rich, fluid, and marked by sustained excellence. It also reflects Hall's relentless inventiveness. Fritz Byers considers Hall's career.
